It’s been a rough year or so for Batman in animation. Beware The Batmanis effectively canceled. His DVD movies haven’t been the greatest. But at least next week, he’s got Bruce Timm back.

Timm has returned to animate a short, Batman: Strange Days. Sharp-eyed Batfans (or just people who read Cracked articles) will notice that it’s an adaptation of the first issue of Batman, the solo comic, complete with, well, Batguns:

WB Animation

Sure, DC. “Tear Gas.” Right.

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Despite the age, and the fact that some important aspects of Batman hadn’t quite come into focus yet, it’s still a fun story. Hugo Strange essentially injects a bunch of mental patients with supersteroids, and Batman has to figure out a way to save Gotham and keep himself from turning into a cut-rate Hulk. Matt Wagner has tackled it before as well, although we suspect the whole “killing a monster with a noose from your plane” aspect will be summarily cut. Death by strangulation just doesn’t test well with parents.

At a guess, WB brought Timm back because it’s Batman’s 75th, something reinforced by digging out this issue from cold storage. Also unclear is who might be in the cast. Kevin Conroy doesn’t appear to be involved, despite apparently voicing absolutely everything Batmannish in animation over the last few years.

If you want to catch this, the DC Nation shorts have been airing after Teen Titans Go!, and it’ll debut during that block on April 9th. Meanwhile, we’ll be over here, hoping Warner Brothers realizes the error of its ways and gives Timm a blank check and total creative control.